Building a better future through food
KBH Madhus has a mission is to change society through better meals and they’ve been doing this by helping the kitchens of hospitals, schools, and other public institutions go 90% organic, often on the same budget. So many meals are made in the public sector, that this kind of institutional change has massive impact. In this episode, we talk about the process KBH Madhus uses as well as how any kitchen – big or small, private or public – can do the same.
Gustav Johansson is behind Swedens largest vegan food blog. He’s also the author of two vegan cookbooks – one covers Swedish comfort food and the other is for athletes in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund and the Swedish Olympic Committee.
Gustav’s work is fascinating. His work centers on using his platform to make it easier for people to chose a planet friendly diet. He does so by developing a trove of recipes that don’t require consumers to sacrifice the tastes they love or dishes they grew up with in order to eat more sustainably. He also works with supermarket chains and food entrepreneurs to ensure that the vegan products people want make it to market. He also develops recipes for new products to make sure there are resources available online for how to use them.
Besides Gustav’s story and approach, we also cover how new products are released in Sweden – it only happens three times a year – and why Swedes seem to be leading the charge when it comes to embracing a vegan diet.
Lolland-Falster is fascinating not only because it has some of the richest soil in the country, but also because its considered “udkantsdanmark” or outer Denmark – a rural region, which has been struggling to attract growth in competition with big cities.
Despite this, Growth Train’s 7-week accelerator program has succeeded in attracting startups to the region. Their program focuses on connecting the big agricultural operators with startups, giving them a playground to test new technologies. The goal is to work with corporations to soure solutions to their innovation challenges. I speak with Christiane Paaske-Sørensen on the ins and outs of the program.
Related Links
Coop’s members use crowdfunding to get new food startups on the shelves
Why the Danish government’s fund is now investing in FoodTech
How Denmark’s Agro Business Park connects startups and corporations
Danish Technical University’s on helping students invent the next big food solution
How Copenhagen Food Space helps new startups get off the ground
Nicolai Jæpelt is the Project Leader for Coop Crowdfunding. Coop is one of the largest supermarket chains in Denmark and is run as a cooperative with approx. 1.8 million members. The supermarket has created a crowdfunding platform where members can invest in early stage food initiatives they believe in. We cover how to get on Coop’s shelves, why this new pathway is so interesting, and what consumers are investing in. We also chat about how to make a successful food crowdfunding campaign and why the platform has become a trend spotting platform for other purchasers.
If you’re into food and find yourself in Sweden, then one of your first points of contact should definitely be Sweden FoodTech’s Johan Jörgensen. The org is fully focused on developing the ecosystem through community, events, and biz dev assistance. Johan is an Internet entrepreneur turned investor with 20+ years of experience under his belt. He was once voted Best Investor in Sweden. Listen in as we discuss the ins and outs of Sweden’s FoodTech ecosystem including Stockholm’s plans to become a future food city.
Samuel Scheer works at Innovation Center Denmark in Tel Aviv, where they have a focus on accelerating Ag & FoodTech businesses. In this episode, we focus on how Nordic companies can tap foreign VC and ecosystems to grow globally. We especially focus on why the Danish-Israeli connection is so interesting, what we can learn from each other, and how you can make the most of the connections and market opportunities these centers have to offer.
Mia Maja Hansson helped to grow food entrepreneurship by establishing many of the spaces and facilities that Copenhagen food entrepreneurs use to get their businesses off the ground. This includes CPH Food Space, Street Food Around the Lakes, and Kitchen Collective. We discuss what each of these initiatives are as well as how and why they got started. We also dive into the history of food entrepreneurship and gastronomy in Copenhagen including what makes it such an innovative environment.
Roberto Flore is the Manager of DTU FoodLab, part of the Danish Technical University’s incubator/maker space DTU Sky Lab. Roberto is the former Head of R&D at Noma’s Nordic Food Lab. In 2017, Rolling Stone Magazine cited Roberto as one of 25 innovators who are changing the world. In this episode, we discuss how DTU Foodlab is sparking radical innovation by using food to build bridges between disciplines and address the grand global challenges. We also talk about how students & entrepreneurs can get involved and access the lab.
Keenan Pinto is the founder and CEO of Nordetect, which enables farmers to test their own soil samples for Nitrogren Phosphorous, and Potassium and then see the results in real time. This not only enables smarter farming practices, but also prevents over-fertilizing. With a diverse scientific and international background, Keenan shares his advice, lessons learned, and smart cuts for starting an Ag or FoodTech hardware / software company in the Nordics. We also discuss the pros and cons of building and scaling a company in Denmark and what’s needed from the ecosystem to help companies grow.
The FoodStack Community started as a meet up – the first one at Techfestival in 2017 – and quickly evolved into a powerful grassroots movement of food enthusiasts, makers, doers, biohackers, and entrepreneurs gathering together to develop new food solutions.
Frederik Lean is one of the forces that got the group off the ground. In this episode, he tells the story of how FoodStack got started and why it’s been so important for the Nordic FoodTech ecosystem to gather centrally. We also discuss the application of open source principles to food and how co-ops are being revamped for vertical farming.
For more information and episodes visit www.nordicfoodtech.io